


Kindergarten

by Faith280



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Deals with dyslexia/ADHD, F/F, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2020-11-28 18:20:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 18,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20970953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faith280/pseuds/Faith280
Summary: The Grif-Simmons’ twins are embarking on a new milestone, kindergarten. Simmons is so proud of his kids, they are growing up so fast. Jake can handle school just fine, Mira... not so much. Can she adjust to school without driving poor Simmons insane?





	1. Chapter 1

“Hey guys, time to wrap up the video games. It’s time for bed, school starts tomorrow.” Simmons was sounding way too cheery about it.

Dex groaned as he threw down his controller. “Aww Dad, I don’t want summer to end.” He had to fix his new glasses that kept sliding down his nose. “The kids are going to make fun of me with these stupid glasses.”

Simmons refused to lose his cool. “They are not going to make fun of you, you look fine.”

Dex made a face, of course his Dad would say that. Simmons himself had worn glasses since he was in second grade too.

Jake had to get into the conversation. “I have glasses, and I don’t mind them.” He was the only child actually looking forward to starting school.

Dex glared at him. “Of course you wouldn’t, you’re already a little nerd.”

Simmons had it with Dex’s attitude problems lately. “Dexter, if you can’t be nice, then go to bed now! You’re grounded for the rest of the night.”

“Fine!” Dex huffed loudly and went to his room.

Jake was pretty used up his big brother’s insults, they never bothered him anymore. He looked up at Simmons. “I’m so excited for school tomorrow.”

Simmons smiled fondly at his youngest son. “That’s the right attitude to have. Trust me, you’re going to love school.”

Grif groaned as he reluctantly turned off the X-box. “Sure he will, he’s a professional suck up like you always was.”

Jake looked concerned. “Didn’t you like school Daddy?”

Grif chuckled. “No I didn’t kiddo. Let’s just say that school and I never got along. I spent most of it hiding away in my room and thinking up schemes to get out of it.”

Mira was curled up half asleep on the couch. She perked up some when she heard Grif’s story. “Yeah Daddy, I don’t wanna get along with school either…” Her green eyes gleamed, her brain was plotting up ideas.

Simmons needed to put an end to this. “Oh no you don’t. You need to go to school, no plots and no schemes.” He turned to glare at Grif. “Don’t you even give her any ideas.”

Grif laughed, he forgot who he was dealing with. “Yeah, he’s right girlie, you gotta go to school. They’ll throw you in school jail if you don’t.” He turned to his husband. “There loser, will that work for you?”

Simmons still glared at him as he shook his head. “If you don’t help me get these kids to bed, or you’re going to end up in husband jail.”

Grif tugged at Mira’s hand. She tried to pull away from him. “No, I’m not sleepy.” Her eyes were so tired, she could hardly keep them open.

For the first time in five years, the twins have been separated to their own bedrooms. Jake liked having his own room. Mira still wasn’t adjusting to the change very well. She tried to make up more and more excuses to why she didn’t want her own room.

Grif gave up fighting with her and picked her up. She struggled a little, but she was so tired, she gave in. Jake willingly went with Simmons. All through bedtime, he rambled on about how excited he was to start kindergarten.

Simmons felt good knowing he had at least one good kid. Now all he had to do now was worry about Mira and Dex.

Mira had her bath and changed into her pajamas, but she hesitated going into her room. Simmons pulled back the covers for her. “Here you go, hop into bed.”

She looked wary of the room. “What if there’s a monster hiding under the bed?”

“I promise you there’s no monster.”

“How do you know? Maybe I should move back into Jake’s room.”

He pulled back the bed skirt to show her. “You see, it’s all safe. It’s time for bed. You’re old enough to learn to sleep by yourself. Nothing is going to hurt you.”

She looked so sad about it, he wished he could let her stay with her twin. But they had to learn to be separated sometimes, she may as well learn it now.

She slowly climbed into her bed, she wanted to delay bedtime for as long as possible. Grif came into the room, he suspected his daughter needed him.

“You know you’re Dad’s right, there’s no monsters under the bed. Everyone knows they only hang out in the closets. So if there’s a monster in your closet, you’re not really sleeping alone then are you?” He gave her a wink.

Simmons frowned at him. “Grif, what’s wrong with you? I am trying to get her to go to sleep…” He gave up lecturing, neither one was listening.

Mira giggled as she snuggled under her covers. “Okay Daddy, I feel better now.” She reached out to him. “Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?”

Grif couldn’t say no to her. He held onto her hand as he sat on the edge of her bed. “Sure kiddo, I’m here for you.” She finally closed her eyes and tried to sleep.

Simmons gave a sigh of relief. He whispered to Grif. “If you’re okay here, I’m going to check on Dex before heading to bed.”

“Sure, we’re fine.” He could barely hold back a yawn.

When Simmons got to Dex’s room, he saw a faint light on. Dex was supposed to grounded, he should have been asleep but now. Simmons knocked lightly on his door.

“Hey, you’re supposed to be asleep, what’s going on in here?”

Dex jumped, slammed his book shut, and tried to hide his flashlight. “Uh, nothing’s going on, why?” He was all flustered and his face got bright red.

“So I take it you’re staying up late reading?”

“Yeah, it was from my summer reading list. It’s about time travel and I really liked it, so I wanted to read it again. I’m not in more trouble am I?”

Simmons sat down beside him. “No, I’ll never yell at you for reading. What I don’t want is to yell at you for is making fun of your little brother like you did downstairs.”

Dex squirmed. “Dad, he knows I’m only teasing him. We’re brothers, we make fun of each other all the time, it’s no big deal. If someone else makes fun of him for being a nerd, I’d punch them.”

“I appreciate the sentiment towards Jake, but do not get into any fights at school.”

Dex shrugged. “The kids are going to be too busy making fun of me for my glasses.”

“Well, Chloe has to start the school year in braces, that’s worse, isn’t it?”

“Yeah I guess, at least we can look terrible at school together. I’ll have one actual friend left.”

“It’s not that bad, honest. Finish up that chapter, it’s getting late. You’ve got to get up early in the morning.”

Dex made a face, but he marked his page in the book and did get ready for bed. He could be a really good kid when he wanted to. Simmons moved his glasses further back on his nightstand for safety before heading off to bed himself.

Grif was already in bed, buried under the bedspread and snoring away. Simmons had to tug at the blanket to get any covers at all. With a big sigh, he gave up. He’d have to freeze all night, it was easier than fighting a Grif.

Getting the kids to bed was completely exhausting, and this was only the first night. How in the world was he going to survive an entire year of this?...


	2. Chapter 2

Simmons woke up when his alarm blared at six in the morning. Grif gave a dying groan, he was still completely buried under the bedspread. Simmons made a face, he sounded like a bear hibernating. He elbowed him as hard as he could.

“Don’t you dare go back to sleep on me, you need to get ready for work this morning. And I need help with the kids.”

Grif grumbled as he struggled out of his pile of blankets. His hair was a wild mess. “Yeah yeah, don’t remind me.” He went back under. Within seconds, he was snoring again.

Simmons shook his head as he tried to wake up himself. How the hell was he going to get all three kids and his lazy husband ready by himself?

He started with Dex. Like Grif, he was buried under his blankets, snoring loudly.

Simmons tried to gently shake him awake. He reluctantly came out of hiding and tried to force his eyes to open. “Huh Dad?”

“Are you awake? It’s the first day of school.”

He groaned and went back under. “No, I don’t wanna.”

Simmons pulled the blanket back off. “I’m serious Dex, I need you to get up. It’s going to take all my energy to fight with your sister.”

Dex didn’t exactly look awake, but he did get up. “Okay Dad, I’m awake, honest.”

“Thanks buddy, as soon as you get ready, it’ll be breakfast time.”

That perked him up. “Cool, I really will get ready now.” He was definitely Grif’s son.

Simmons made his way to Jake’s room. He was already wide awake. He was wearing his favorite magician’s hat while making his bed. He looked so excited, it made Simmons smile.

“I take it you’re all excited about today, aren’t you?”

Jake stopped fluffing up his pillow to answer with a big smile. “Yes!”

“Good job, as soon as you get dressed, come and get done breakfast. I need to get your sister ready.” He couldn’t help making a face, she never cooperated with him.

Jake gave a chuckle. “Good luck with that.”

Mira was still sound asleep when Simmons got there. “Mira, time to get up honey. What do you want to wear for your first day of school?”

She lifted her head. Her ginger curls were all frizzed and out of control. He wished she had let him cut her hair short like he wanted to. Her hair never un tangled easily. She had her heart set on having long hair, but never wanted to style it.

She looked confused before answering. “I don’t wanna go to school.” Her face was set in it’s determined pout.

“You have to go to school. We got you all those new outfits, which do you want to wear?”

She made a face at her new clothes. “None of those will do. I wanna be pretty for kindergarten.”

“You’re already pretty. You have a lot of nice clothes to choose from.”

“I wanna pick my own outfit.” Her face was all red, it was the start of a temper tantrum.

Simmons had the feeling of dread, lord he didn’t trust her judgement. She reached under her bed and pulled out her favorite skirt. It was an orange sequined ballerina tutu that she wore all the time for dress up. She calmly went to her dresser and pulled out a dark pink blouse that she thought matched.

“Now this is pretty!”

Simmons cringed, this wouldn’t go well. “No honey, you can’t wear that, it’s for playtime.” He pulled out the light green dress that she just had to have when they were school shopping. “Remember all those dresses you wanted? How about this one? It’ll look so pretty with your hair.”

She pushed it away. “No, this is prettier. I wanna wear orange like Daddy does at work.”

She sounded so sincere, Simmons felt bad having to tell her no. “Mira, reconsider…”

“Mira, you need to listen to your Dad.” Neither one heard Grif step into the room. Simmons looked grateful for his help. Mira only listened to Grif, the two were on the same brain lengths. Some days, he couldn’t understand either one of them.

“Aww, but Daddy…” She looked down at the floor.

Grif gently put his hand on her shoulders. “I appreciate the sentiment kiddo that you want to be like me, but you can’t throw a temper tantrum every time you don’t get your way.”

He took the dress from Simmons and handed it to Mira. She took it this time. “Will you help me Daddy?”

“Sure I will. We can work on your hair while we’re at it.”

“Okay.” She looked better as she went with Grif. He shot a grin at Simmons on his way out.

“How the hell did you get her to listen so fast? I would still be fighting with her.”

“Hey, I know what I’m doing loser. Anyway, the sooner you get the kids situated, the sooner I get breakfast.”

Simmons had to smile as he left the room. Typical Grif, there were always ulterior motives.

The scrambled eggs were all ready to be served by the time Grif and Mira came out to the kitchen. Dex was loading up his plate with the eggs. He saw Mira first and burst burst out laughing.

“Wow, Mira actually looks like a girl for once.”

Mira glared at him, her face was bright red with embarrassment. She was having a bad enough morning as it was. “Shut up Dex.” She smacked him in the arm. It took him by surprise and he dropped his plate.

“Now look what you did.” Dex tried to clean the mess off his shirt. It made it worse and the eggs smeared all over his shirt. “Thanks a lot Mira.”

Simmons knelt down to clean up the mess. “Take it easy Dex, leave your sister alone, it’s only eggs. Just go and change your shirt.” He turned to Mira. “And you young lady, don’t go hitting your brother.”

Grif chuckled. “Yep, she may be looking more like a girl, but she’s still a spitfire at heart.”

Simmons looked at her outfit. Mira always was a tomboy, even when she was a baby. He’d spend the next five years wishing she would be more girlie. Now that he was getting his wish, he didn’t know how to handle it.

First was kindergarten, then it would be middle school, then high school. She would be interested in makeup and boys and going to proms… his head was spinning just thinking about it. Why couldn’t she stay five years old forever?

It was like Grif could read his mind. “You should be more careful about wish for when it comes to the kids.”

Simmons was startled back to reality. “Huh, what are you talking about?”

“Your tomboy is becoming a girl. All those times she fought you with those damned frilly dresses you tried to make her wear. Now, she’s gonna start liking them. We’re both going to be in for it.”

Simmons tried to laugh it off. “No, of course not.” He turned to Mira to hand her a plate. “You look really nice for your first day of school.”

He watched as the twins gathered around the kitchen table and chattered back and forth. It felt like it was only yesterday that they were tiny babies, now they were in school. How did it go so fast? When they were older, how could he ever let them go?

He had a lump in his throat as he wished he could keep them little kids forever…


	3. Chapter 3

“Come on guys, hurry up. Grab your new book bags, we’re going to be late.” Simmons turned to Grif and handed him a travel mug filled with coffee and a paper bag with his lunch. “And you better hurry up, I’ll have Tucker calling to yell at me if you’re late for training a second time.”

Grif downed some of his coffee and tried to peek inside the bag. He stopped when he saw his husband glaring at him. “Hey, don’t give me that look, I just want to know what I’m having for lunch.”

“Make sure you save it for lunch. If you eat it now, you’re out of luck for later.”

“Nah, not necessarily, I can always con Tucker out of some of his lunch.” He rustled through the bag. “What is this, a bag of carrots and an apple? What are you trying to kill me with this health junk? Where’s the potato chips?”

Simmons flinched, that’s why he didn’t want Grif looking. “Of course not. I allowed you to have a bologna sandwich, you don’t need chips. You need to start eating more healthy.”

Grif was still shaking his head. “My own husband is out to get me.”

Simmons ignored him. “Kids come on.” Jake was the first ready. He proudly swung his new red book bag over his shoulders. It was so full, he almost fell over. Grif reached out to help him.

“What in the world do you have in there?”

“Oh just some notebooks, pencils, erasers, a few of my favorite books in case the teacher wants to know what I’ve read. You know, the essentials.”

Grif looked at him for a second, yeah he was Simmons’ kid alright. “You do know this is kindergarten and not college right?” He ruffled Jake’s hair and he laughed.

Simmons was proud. “Leave him alone, he’s prepared for anything.” Dex slung his blue book bag over a shoulder. He had his new glasses on and didn’t look happy.

Simmons tried to talk him out of the book bag when he first picked it out. There was officially no more Red Team/Blue Team conflict that they had years ago, but he still felt a little funny about it. Both of Dex’s parents were from Red Team, it almost made him a traitor.

Simmons quickly squashed the thought from his mind. That was Sarge’s old way of thinking, and now, Simmons had a mind of his own. Dex didn’t understand why there was a problem, so Simmons wouldn’t turn it into one. He let him pick out the color he wanted.

Mira trudged along behind her brothers. Her orange book bag dragged on the ground. Her heart wasn’t into this and it made Simmons worry about her. He took the bag and helped her out it around her shoulders. At this rate, she’d have it ruined the first day.

As the group left the house, she trudged along like a zombie. Grif reached out to give her hand a squeeze of encouragement. “You know, school isn’t as bad as you’re making it to be. Smile and have fun, enjoy school before it becomes actual work.”

She gave a little smile. “Okay Daddy.” Grif left in the car to go to work while Simmons walked the kids to school. When he got Mira to school, he had no idea what he would be in for.

The kindergarten had its own individual building. Their part of Chorus still wasn’t too terribly inhabited, so the district could get away with only two kindergarten classes. The twins were scheduled for the morning session.

Since their class finished at noon and Simmons was working until three, he made arrangements with Emily Grey to pick the twins up for him. Since she was picking up her own girls at daycare, she didn’t mind at all.

Once in the schoolroom, Mira, who was always the most outgoing twin, stayed close to Simmons. For the first time ever, Jake was confident and ready to go. Simmons couldn’t believe the change in them.

The teacher walked over to them. She was middle aged, her hair was light brown and starting to gray. Her outfit was sensible, a blue comfortable dress with flat black dress shoes. She looked like she had been teaching little ones for a good while now. Simmons felt comfortable leaving his kids with her.

She smiled and offered to shake hands. “Hello, you must be Mr. Simmons. I’m Mrs Summers, I’ll be teaching these little ones for the school year.” She leaned down to shake the twins’ hands.

Jake shocked his father again. “Hi, I’m Jake. I’m excited to start school. I brought some of my favorite books today, you can let me know if my reading is off to a good start.” He looked so hopeful.

Mira made a face behind his back. Now she understood why Dex called him a suck up all the time.

Mrs. Summers smiled at him. “My goodness, you’re such a good student all ready. I know we’ll get along great this year.” She turned to Mira. “And how about sweetie?”

Mira shrugged and looked bored. “My name’s Mira. I don’t like books or learning. I’m only here cause my Dads made me.”

Mrs. Summers kept up her brave smile. “Well, thank you for being honest. Maybe if you give me a chance, I’ll make you change your mind about learning.”

“I doubt it, but thank you anyway.”

Simmons was mortified, he angrily tapped her arm. “Mira, cut it out, I’m not warning you again. You need to show respect to your teacher.”

Mira looked confused, she liked her teacher well enough, she wasn’t trying to be mean. “But Daddy, I’m only answering her. And I remembered to say ‘thank you’, like you taught me.”

Mrs. Summers couldn’t help laughing over it. “She has a point there. Well, Miss Mira, I like your personality, you’re going to be some character to teach. I think this will be an interesting school year for all of us.

Jake was feeling ignored. He took his books out of his back pack. “See Mrs. Summers, I brought these with me. I have a bunch of others at home. Daddy taught me to read when I was three years old.”

“That’s really great Jake. When it comes to reading time, I’ll let you help with the other kids who aren’t as caught up as you are.” He beamed at the compliment. “How about you two go meet the other kids, and I’ll talk to your Dad for a minute.”

Simmons groaned. After the way both his kids acted, he would be the one who would be sent to the principal’s office. “I’m sorry about those two. Trust me, I can explain…”

She held up her hand to stop him. “No, don’t apologize, the kids will be just fine. Jake is such an excited student, you don’t see that often in a child anymore. And Mira has a lot of spunk, she will be a fun challenge for me.”

Simmons frowned, she says that now. “Should I hang around and see how they cope?”

“No, the best thing to do is leave and let the kids figure it out for themselves. They’ll do great, I haven’t had a child not adjust to kindergarten yet.”

She turned away and started directing the kids. Simmons took it as his cue to leave. Jake hung by his teacher’s side, he was fine. But Mira wasn’t even paying attention.

Why did he have the sinking feeling that Mira would be the first child ever to not adjust?...


	4. Chapter 4

Mrs. Summers clapped her hands together to get the kids’ attention. “Alrightee kids, let’s finish up in the play area. How about we start on some artwork for our first morning together?”

The kids groaned a little, but willingly put their toys away and went to pick out their new seats for the school year…all except Mira. She continued playing with a teddy bear she had taken a liking to. Jake obediently put his car in the toy box and looked over at his sister.

“Come on Mira, put the bear away. We can sit beside each other for art class. I’ll save you the best seat.”

Mira shrugged, she was in no hurry to put away the toy. “Maybe.” She continued playing.

Mrs. Summers raised an eyebrow, but she was determined to keep her patience with Mira. “Come along Mira, we all want you to join us. See, your brother saved you a seat, you two can work together.”

Mira thought about it, then shook her head. “Nah, that’s okay, I wanna play some more. Maybe later.” She went back to her toy.

Jake was mortified. He whispered loudly to her. “You can’t say that to the teacher!”

Mira looked confused. “Why not?”

Now Jake looked confused. “Because you can’t. Dad will be mad at you anyway for that.”

“Now children, no one’s getting mad here.” She put her arm around Mira’s shoulders to guide her. “We will be making a flower garden out of tissue paper, now won’t that be fun?”

Mira pulled away, her face was red with frustration. “No, I wanna play with the beddy tear.”

Jake looked at her. “What? Why did you say it backwards like that?”

She looked more frustrated. “Shut up Jake, I did not. I said teddy bear.” She hit him in the arm as hard as she could.

“Mira Grif-Simmons, we do not tell people to shut up or hit them in this kindergarten class.”

Mira’s eyes filled with tears. “But he’s my brother, we do that all the time.”

“This is school, not home.” Mrs. Summers softened her voice. “Just come and enjoy art class with us. It will be fun. I promise.”

Mira reluctantly sat beside Jake. He was still holding his injured arm. She rolled her eyes at him. “Quit being such a baby.” He got over it fast as the teacher brought out their supplies.

She handed out large, white sheets of card stock paper and a small paintbrush to each of the kids. At each table, she set out school glue, a shallow bowl of water and little scrap pieces of tissue paper in all kinds of colors.

“Alright children listen closely, these will be your flower garden projects to take home to your parents. Mix a little bit of water with your glue and brush the backs of the tissue paper to make your flowers, but only a little glue and water at a time. Go crazy and see what flowers you can grow.” She stood back and let the kids be creative.

Jake went right to it. He chose a red, white, and blue color scheme. He planned on giving his projects to his Dads. His work was careful and precise, he wasn’t necessarily good with art. He was super proud of himself when his flower garden took form in front of him.

Mira scrunched up her face in concentration. She listened to the teacher when she read the instructions, but somehow, they didn’t process to Mira. At first, she tried to use the glue without the water, all it did was tear the tissue paper. She tried again, this time using the water. She added too much, it soaked through her paper and left wet spots. She tried to salvage it and make flowers out of the tissue paper, but they looked like lifeless blobs. She glanced around the room, all the other kids had decent looking projects, only hers looked this badly. Tears of shame sprung to her eyes.

As Jake waited for his paper to dry, he looked at Mira’s. He expected to see an interesting looking garden on hers, she always had such an imagination, but he had to hold back his shock. At first he wanted to laugh, but he couldn’t do that to his sister.

“Uh…that’s some neat looking flowers you made Mira. I like them.”

She shot him a look. “Quit lying, they look terrible.” She was trying hard not to cry.

Mrs. Summers came over to check. She put her hands on her shoulders. “It’s a good try Mira. Just next time, pay attention when I give you instructions.” She looked at Jake’s. “I like your patriotic colors there.”

Jake beamed at the compliment. “This picture is my Dads, they’re both in the Army.”

“Oh, that’s right. They were a part of the Reds and Blues that helped Chorus with the Civil war. They’ll be so proud of you.” She moved into to the other kids.

Mira was ashamed, she did listen to the instructions, she didn’t know why she didn’t understand them when all the other kids did. She angrily scrunched up her project and threw it away. Jake looked worried about her, but she didn’t care.

After the room was cleaned up after art class, Mrs. Summers passed out small nursery rhyme books. “We are going to be beginning to master our reading with these simple stories that most of you should know by heart.”

Jake flipped through the book, these were the kinds of stories Simmons had read to both of them a hundred times. He was confident he would do well at reading them by himself. Mira looked over the book with dread.

Mrs. Summers called in children at random to read. She corrected them when needed, and overall, offered encouragement. She picked Mira to start out ‘Little Bo Peep.’

Mira scrunched her face to concentrate on the words in front her. She hated reading. She started out, “Little Do Beep…” All the kids burst out laughing at her. Her face turned bright red as she slammed the book shut.

Mrs. Summers held out to hands. “Kids, that is enough! Do not laugh at someone who is learning to read. Most of you can’t do much better, so don’t you dare laugh at her.” She directed Jake to take over the story so she could check on Mira.

She had stalked off to the play area, she was done with school. Her teacher came up behind her. “It’s okay Mira, I don’t expect you guys to be able to read yet. Very few kids can do any better.”

Mira was sniffling. She kept looking around the room and looking out the window, trying to focus on anything to keep from crying.

“Come on back to your seat. You need to concentrate and listen to what I tell you.” She tried to guide her. Mira jerked away, she could still hear the kids laughing at her, she was listening, and she still couldn’t understand.

“No, I’m not going back over there. I don’t want to be here, and you can’t make me.” Her face was determined, she was setting up for a major temper tantrum.

“Mira Grif-Simmons, go back to the work area, or you’ll be in time out for the rest of the morning.”

Mira thought about, the teacher was serious, but so was she. “I’ll take the time out, thank you.” She willingly went to the corner all by herself.

Mira thought to herself. “I’m never coming back. Never, never, ever!”


	5. Chapter 5

The time out seemed to go on forever, especially for a child like Mira who hated to sit still. She hoped the class would be over with already.

Mrs. Summers dismissed the kids for playtime outside. She pulled a chair up beside Mira’s. Her hopes dropped, she wanted to play with the other kids. Tears sprang to her eyes.

Her teacher put her hand encouragingly on her shoulder. “Are you doing okay Mira?”

She shrugged, she had to blink to keep her tears from falling. “I’m sorry Mrs. Summers.” Her voice was so low, she could barely be heard.

She gave Mira a small smile. “Thank you Mira, and it’s alright. I’m mad at your behavior, not at you. You have another chance. After recess, there’s more seat work for the rest of the morning.”

“I don’t get out to go play?”

“I’m afraid not honey, it was your Dad’s orders. He said the pollen count outside was too high for your asthma, so you need to stay in.”

Mira hated that. She was an active child and loved to run around and play ball with her brothers. She hated sitting still, there was no fun in that. She sighed dramatically as she watched the other kids from the window. Mrs. Summers was still talking, but she stopped listening.

“Mira, are you listening? I was explaining about the seat work we’ll be doing today so you’re all prepared.”

Of course she wasn’t listening, she wanted to be outside. She had her inhaler, she’s be fine. “Yeah yeah, I got it.” She continued watching out the window.

Her teacher sighed and gave up. She walked out to the playground to announce the end of recess. The kids all filed back into the classroom.

Mira noticed Jake walking beside a little girl with blond hair. She remembered her from preschool last year, but she couldn’t remember her name.

Jake’s face was awfully pink with embarrassment, but he was able to talk to her without stammering. How dare he have fun with a new friend while his own twin was suffering? She didn’t want to talk to him.

At their seats, Jake noticed the hostile look in her face, he got nervous, she could hit like a boy. “What’s wrong Mira?”

“Why do you get have fun with a girl while I have to sit in the corner and suffer?”

“Her name’s Alyssa. And maybe it’s because I listen to the teacher and don’t throw temper tantrums like you do.”

She balled up her hand to hit him, she caught the teacher giving her a warning look. She stopped and Jake breathed a sigh of relief.

“Jake, would you like to pass out these worksheets for me?” Mrs. Summers figured he needed a little saving.

He eagerly jumped up and gave a big smile. “Yes ma’am.” He purposely gave Alyssa her paper first and he made Mira wait until last. She glared at him as he sat back down.

He looked guilty. “Sorry about that.”

She shrugged. “Yeah whatever, it doesn’t matter.” She always forgave her twin easily. Her face scrunched up her face as she slowly tried to read the printing in front of her. It felt like all the letters jumbled around. She had sort of an idea of what she was reading, but it didn’t make sense.

She started to panic and elbowed Jake in the arm. “What is all this?”

“This first sheet is to study the letter ‘A’. Be quiet and the teacher will explain it.”

“Alright kids, we’re starting our reading adventure by studying the first three letters of the alphabet. Let’s begin with the different ways to pronounce the letter ‘A’ in simple words.”

Mira frowned, she thought A was simply A. She blurted out without raising her hand. “How many ways are there to say ‘A’?”

“There’s are short ‘A’ and a long ‘A’ sounds in words. Kids, let’s read from the list.”

Now Mira really was confused. She looked around the room, Jake and the other kids all seemed to understand it, why didn’t she? They would send her back to preschool for being too stupid for kindergarten. She tried to make herself invisible so Mrs. Summers wouldn’t call on her.

No such luck. “Mira, can you read the next word for us please?”

The word was ‘cape’. It looked easy enough, she could do this. After several minutes of sounding it out in her head, she answered. “Cap.” She looked hopeful.

The kids all giggled at her answer, they didn’t dare laugh, the teacher would yell again. “That’s a good try, but use a long ‘A’ sound instead.”

Even more slowly she answered, “Cape.”

“Very good. Try the next word for me.”

The word was ‘cat’. This one looked easier, Mira thought she knew it. “Cate.” She felt like she got the handle on spelling. The class laughed harder. Even a preschooler knew how to spell cat.

Mrs. Summers frowned at the class, they quieted down. “Not quite right, it’s a short ‘A’ sound.”

Mira huffed, who could keep all these spelling rules straight? She threw down her pencil in frustration. “This is stupid. I never wanted to learn to read and write in the first place.”

“Mira! You act like you’re not even trying. I’m willing to teach you, I’m trying to make learning fun.”

“It’s not fun, I don’t like it! I only get laughed at.” She turned to her brother. “Bye Jake.” She got up from their table.

Jake looked worried about her. “Where are you going to now?”

“Back to the corner, I’ll be there until school’s out.” She flopped into the chair and faced the wall so she didn’t have to look at the traitors who were her classmates. Jake was the only one who wasn’t laughing at her. She sat and thought dark, angry thoughts until she realized they were wrapping up the first day of school.

Again, her teacher pulled a chair over to her. “Mira, I don’t understand what’s wrong. But trust me, you are only hurting yourself with these outbursts.”

“Hmm, I don’t care!”

“You should care. Are you sure there’s not something wrong that you’d like to talk to me about?”

Mira thought about it. She wanted to admit that reading was hard for, how she felt she’d never be as a good a student as her two brothers were. She couldn’t, she chickened out. “No, not really.”

“Hmm, that’s too bad. You know I have four kids of my own and I’ve been teaching for over twenty five years.”

Mira looked shocked. “Wow, I can’t even count that high. You must really be old!”

She had to laugh at Mira’s honesty. “Thanks, I’ve realized that. The point is, I’ve heard every excuse, seen every kind of problem there are. There’s nothing that you can’t tell me. Who knows, maybe I can help.”

Mira hesitated, she couldn’t say it, instead she nodded. “Yeah, I guess so.”

Mrs. Summers patted her shoulder. “Today is over and done with, tomorrow is a whole other day.”

Mira groaned. “You mean I gotta come back?”

“Of course you do. You have a whole fifty-two weeks to the school year.”

Mira looked overwhelmed, she couldn’t do it. “Woah, that’s a lot…”


	6. Chapter 6

Mrs. Summers allowed the kids to wait outside for their parents to pick them up. She waited with them so she could give daily reports on how their children behaved. This had Mira worried. She fidgeted as she waited for Dr. Grey.

Finally, she walked down the sidewalk, pushing baby Allie in her stroller and a sulky looking Maddie walking beside her. Mira jumped up and ran to her, she threw her arms around her waist and wanted to hide.

Grey looked confused as she put an arm Mira. “My goodness, are this happy to see me, or this worried?” She raised an eyebrow at her favorite patient. She knew this child too well.

Mira guiltily peeked around to look at her. “Umm, a little of both…?”

Mrs. Summers caught up with them. She shook hands with Dr. Grey. “Hello there, I’m the twins’ teacher, Mrs. Summers.”

“Hello, I’m Doctor Emily Grey. So, I guess these two rascals were your problem all morning, and now they’re mine?”

The teacher beamed at Jake. “Jake here has been nothing but an angel. He’s going to be a very important helper.” She hesitated a moment. “Mira… is a very spirited child. It’s going to be a fun school year with her around.”

Mira stopped hiding and looked at her teacher. She didn’t rat her out. She patted Mira’s shoulder and gave her an encouraging smile before moving in to the next family. Mira was safe… for today.

She noticed Maddie was being very quiet and grumpy. She took ahold of the little girl’s hand. “What’s the matter Maddie?”

She shook her head, she wouldn’t look up, she focused looking down at the concrete. Grey had to answer for her. “Someone didn’t have a very good day at daycare today. She’s not talking to anyone.” She reached over to stroke Maddie’s blond curls, but she jerked away.”

Mira looked down at the little girl. “How come, what happened?”

Maddie tightened her grip on Mira’s hand. “David left me at daycare all by myself. Now I have no friends.”

Grey scoffed at her answer. “That’s not even true. David started preschool, he didn’t exactly ditch you. And you do too have plenty of friends. You had a lot of play dates all summer with little Janie.”

Maddie shrugged and refused to look at her Mother. Mira felt better. “At least I wasn’t the only one having a bad day.”

“Oh, it wasn’t only you and Maddie, Allie wasn’t too happy either. I left her at the daycare with Maddie for a few hours to see how she’d take to it.”

Mira looked back at Grey. “She didn’t like it either?”

“Nope, apparently she cried most of the time. She was so bad, they had to send Maddie back to calm her down. My maternity leave is almost over, I was hoping to go back to the hospital.” She looked a little sad. “Guess this means I’ll have to change my plans.”

Mira felt bad, Dr. Grey loved being a doctor, she was the best ever. If she couldn’t work, who would take care of everybody? Mira didn’t want Grey or her daughters to be sad, she didn’t want to be so stupid at school… this day was not going as she planned.

Grey sighed over dramatically before turning to Jake. “So Jakey, how did your day go?”

He hesitated, he was almost embarrassed to answer. “It was the best day ever!” He felt bad saying it when everyone else had terrible days.

Grey gave him a big smile. “There you go Jakey, that’s the right spirit to have. Anyway, there’s always tomorrow to fix today’s problems.”

Mira cringed, that’s what she was afraid of. “Can we stop at the park for awhile? I didn’t get to have recess today cause of my asthma.”

Jake laughed. “I thought it was because you ended up in time out so much.”

Mira’s face turned red. “Shut up Jake, you were too busy playing with your girlfriend to notice.”

Now his face matched his twin’s. “She is not my girlfriend!”

Luckily they made it to the park. “Woah, both of you stop it. That’s pretty cool though, way to go Jakey. Let’s just all try to salvage some of this day.”

Maddie kept hold of Mira’s hand, so she walked her to the swings and carefully pushed her. She reluctantly let Jake join them. Dr. Grey spread out a blanket for Allie and she practiced crawling on it.

At seven months old, Allie was officially healed from the severe abuse thanks to her deadbeat father. She was an active child and loved to crawl and take custody of Maddie’s toys. Grey was relieved that the father was safely behind bars and both girls were healthy and happy.

She was sprawled out on the blanket with Allie and looked up when she saw Mira standing over them. Allie smiled and crawled right over to her. Mira was a favorite of hers.

Mira avoided looking Dr. Grey in the eyes. “Wow, she’s getting really good at crawling.”

Grey nodded. “She sure wants to go.” She motioned for Mira to sit with her. “I don’t want to press the issue, but is there anything about school you’d like to talk about?”

Mira still avoided her violet eyes. “No, not really. I’m just sad cause now I know I’ll never get to be a doctor like you.”

Grey frowned. “Why not? Who said you can’t?”

“I do, you have to be real smart to be a doctor, and I found out today that I’m real dumb.”

“Come now, of course you’re not dumb.”

“I am too, the teacher couldn’t teach me anything and I ended up in the corner all the time. All the kids laughed at me… it was horrible.”

“That’s why you’re going to school, to learn things. It doesn’t happen overnight, that’s why you have 12 years of school. Even with an IQ of 240, I had to be taught. It all takes time.”

“Even if I had a hundred years of school, I’d still be stupid.”

“Trust me, I’m your doctor, I’ve known since the day I delivered you. Any little girl with such a determination to survive a difficult birth, thrive despite having breathing problems, standing up for her brother against bullies and an abusive grandfather, to end up saving her fathers’ marriage; that’s not being stupid. That’s being Mira, that’s being unique. You are a freaking mastermind of a genius. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.” She gently elbowed her.

For the first time all day, Mira could smile. She knew Dr. Grey would be on her side, she could tell her anything. She was so glad it was the doctor who picked them up and not her Dad. He would have her even more upset. She loved Simmons as much as she loved Grif, but the two of them could never understand each other. “Yeeahh, I guess so.”

“I know so.” She gave Mira an encouraging smile.

She always seemed to understand Mira’s behavior, even when Mira didn’t understand it herself. Grey was the smartest person on the planet, she had to be right, didn’t she? Mira had a new hope, maybe she could do it.

She just wished she could be as brave tomorrow as she felt today…


	7. Chapter 7

They spent the entire afternoon at the park. Mira was relaxed and actually enjoyed playing. Maddie cheered out of her grumpy mood as Jake and Mira taught her how to play tag. Allie napped a little bit and gave Dr. Grey a break. Then Grey glanced at her watch.

“Oh my goodness, c’mon kids wrap it up, I got to get you guys home. Your Dad will wonder where we are.”

Mira made a face. “Do we have to?”

Jake rushed to get all ready. “Of course we do. I want to show Daddy the picture I made for him.”

Panic rushed over Mira, she forgot that she scrunched up her artwork. Maybe Simmons wouldn’t notice it…

They made it home just as Simmons was unlocking the back door. He was excited to see the twins. “How did school go, did you guys have fun?” He could tell from each of their reactions what to expect.

Jake nodded with a big smile. “I sure did.” He handed Simmons the picture. “I made this for you and Daddy at art class.”

Simmons beamed proudly as he looked at it. “That’s beautiful Jake. I like the patriotic colors you used.” He looked at Mira. “Did you make anything today?”

She looked at the ground and squirmed. “Umm, sorta. It didn’t look too good, so I scrunched it up.”

He looked concerned. “Why did you do that? I would still love to see it.”

Jake had to interrupt. “She wouldn’t listen to the instructions on how to make her flowers, that’s why she screwed up.”

Now Simmons really looked concerned. “Mira, why didn’t you listen to the teacher?”

She continued to squirm. “I listened to her, honest, but I’m no good at art class.” Her face burned with shame.

Simmons didn’t press the issue any further, but he had the feeling there was more to the story than she was letting on. “Alright then. Next time keep your artwork, I really like putting them up on the fridge. I don’t care what it looks like, I’m still proud of you.” He tried to guide her into the house, but she pulled away.

“I’m gonna change and play outside. Wanna swing with me Jake?” She didn’t wait for his answer, she dropped her backpack on the floor and was already running to her room.

Simmons sighed as he picked it up and hung it where it belonged. She was so much like Grif, he wanted to scream. Without being told, Jake hung his bag up properly. Simmons rewarded him with a smile.

Dex had gotten home. He dropped his backpack on the porch and hollered through the back door. “Hi Dad, I’m waiting for Chloe to come over, we’re gonna play soccer for awhile.”

Simmons frowned at where he left his book bag. He had Jake went out to the porch to see him. Jake was all proud that he was starting school too. “Guess what Dex, I’m getting lots of practice on my reading and I made a real project today too.”

Dex made a face at him. “So what, that’s all little kid stuff.” He stopped when he saw the hurt look on his little brother’s face. He ruffled his hair. “Sorry, that’s a good job kiddo.” Jake looked happy again.

Simmons tried to get a conversation with him as he was tying his soccer shoe. “How’s your first day at school? Did the kids tease you about your glasses?”

Dex looked up as he answered. “Not too bad. Turns out Chloe looked worse with her braces than I did, so they were more busy gawking at her.”

A soccer ball came flying at his head. “I heard that you loser.” Chloe stood over him. Her black, curly hair was pulled back in a bun and she wore the pink and white soccer outfit that she conned Tucker into buying her for playtime.

She was definitely in the zone to beat Dex at soccer, and he knew it too. Chloe could always beat him at sports and he let her win. The two of them always got along no matter how badly they picked on each other.

He grinned at threw the ball back at her and she easily caught it. She gave him an evil smile as they started kicking the ball around the yard. Jake wanted to join in.

Dex hesitated, Jake was terrible at sports, but Chloe kicked them ball to him. He missed, but he kept trying until he could kick it back to her. She smiled at him. “Way to go Jake, don’t give up, you’ll get the hang of it.”

Simmons gave up and went back into the house. There was no talking to them until later tonight. At least Dex was outside playing. Simmons usually had to fight with him to come out of his room and stop playing video games. That was a plus.

Mira came jogging out to see what the commotion was about. She saw the kids playing, and she needed to get involved. “Woah Mira, do you have a minute to talk to me? What did you learn today?”

She paused, she needed to think of a way out of it. “No, not really, we learned…stuff today. I’ll talk later, I wanna play.” She ran out the door. Poor Simmons was blown off by all three of his kids. At least Grif would be home soon.

There was a knock at the door. Wash stuck his head in. “Hey Simmons, I brought David over to join the gang. I thought we could hang out here in the kitchen where it’s safer.”

Simmons gave a sad smile. “Sure, we should have a group barbecue later when Grif and Tucker get home. I have plenty of hamburger in the fridge that needs to get used.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Wash frowned at Simmons as he handed him a cup of coffee. “Is something bothering you?”

They both sat at the kitchen table. “Oh it’s probably just first day of school jitters.”

“Tell me about that. I’ve been fighting with Chloe for weeks about how much she hates her braces. David has been so excited to start preschool, I think he and Jake are the only two happy ones.”

“Probably so. I’m worried about Mira. I know something’s bothering her, but she won’t talk to me.”

“She’ll probably talk to Grif. Anyway, Mira’s a tough kid. She can handle it.”

“I hope so, I hate seeing that frustrated look on her face. She’s a lot more sensitive that she lets on, anything can hurt her.”

His heart went out to his daughter. The two have never seen eye to eye, but he loved her so much. He would do whatever it took to help her.

The hard part was, she was so stubborn, would she let him?


	8. Chapter 8

By the time Grif got home from work, Simmons had the grill fired up and the hamburgers were partially cooked. He smelled them before he got out of the car.

“Hey burgers! I call dibs on all of em, I’m starving.”

Simmons shot him a critical glare. “You ate your lunch too early again, didn’t you?”

Grif shot him a grin. “Yes I did, and I have no regrets.”

Tucker came up behind him. “Sure he doesn’t, he stole my lunch before I even got to it.”

“Hey, snooze ya lose.” He took the spatula and was checking to see when the burgers would be done. Simmons had to shoo him away.

“Get away from those, we’re having a first day of school party for the kids. You’re going to ruin those burgers. Make yourself useful and keep an eye on the kids.”

Grif made a face and moved out of his way. “When do we eat anyway?”

“Not until Emily and Carolina get here. They’re bringing the girls over to play. Now get out of the way.”

Grif went to went to watch the soccer game. Jake stopped playing right away to run over to him.

“Daddy, guess what? I got the hang of playing soccer. I even made a goal against Dex. I got to go tell Dad about this.” He looked so happy.

“Wow, that’s great kiddo. I knew you could do it.” He looked over at Dex, he could plainly see that Dex let Jake win. He put his arm around his shoulder. “Thanks buddy for being so nice to your little brother.”

Dex shrugged. “It’s nothing, he’s learning to play sports, he just needs more practice.”

Mira came running over and threw her arms around Grif. She looked sad. “Daddy, I’m so glad your home. I don’t hafta go back to that awful school tomorrow, do I?”

“So I take it things didn’t go well? What’s wrong with school?”

“Everything. Don’t make me go back.”

Grif sighed and held her close. “I’m sorry, but you have to. Why don’t you try having a hamburger later and see if you feel any better.”

She could be bribed with food as easily as Grif. “Okay Daddy.”

Babysitting these kids was hard work, where was that Doctor at? He finally saw the the bright red of Carolina’s hair as she came through the gate, carrying baby Allie in her arms. Grey was close behind her with Maddie.

“Hellooo everyone! Sorry we’re late, I had some problems with the little ones.” Grey tried to take Maddie’s hand to guide her to the picnic table, but the toddler didn’t want to cooperate. Grey shook her head and gave up. Maddie went over to stand by Mira.

Grif moved right beside the grill. “Now can I eat?” He gave his husband a pleading look. Simmons had to laugh at him. “Grab a plate, but save some for the rest of us.”

He carefully selected the largest burger and picked out his spot at the picnic table. He glanced over and noticed how sad Maddie looked and he called her over. As grumpy as Grif acted at times, he was a real softie with the little kids.

She slowly came over, her head hung down low. “What’s wrong with you kiddo?”

She shrugged, but she did raise her head to look at him. “I dunno.”

Mira came over to help. “She was like this earlier.” She put her arms around the little girl. “Won’t you tell us what’s wrong Maddie?”

She hesitated, she was trying the find the right words. “It’s cause of the big kid.”

Grif looked confused. “What kid? Is at your day care?”

She nodded, she looked like she would cry. David came over with his plate. He knew exactly what was going on. “Is Devon picking on you again? I told him to leave you alone, just because he’s older than everyone, he thinks he can pick on us younger kids.”

Again she nodded. At this point, all the parents were over. Grey tried to console her daughter. “So that’s why you wanted David to stay. Why didn’t you tell me you were being bullied?” That made Carolina come over to check on her daughter.

Maddie looked confused. “What’s a bully?”

“Some one who is going to have a big problem if I have to go down to that daycare.” Carolina had to be held back by her wife.

Grif had the solution. “Why don’t you punch him in the nose?”

Maddie’s face turned red. “No, he’s too big!”

Mira looked determined. “Then I’ll punch him for you. I ain’t scared.”

Simmons and Grey shouted at the same time. “No!”

Carolina knelt by Maddie. “What’s that kid doing to you?”

As she looked up at Carolina’s bright green eyes, she felt safe enough to confide in her. “He makes fun of me for being ‘dopted. He says I’m not a real kid and you’re not really my Mommy.”

Carolina’s heart ached for her, the poor kid had been through so much trauma already, she didn’t need it at school. Dr. Grey knew how to help her. She pulled Maddie into her arms and held her close.

“You know what sweetie pie? Being adopted is a great thing. Out of all the babies on Chorus, I picked you for my daughter. That kid’s poor mother has to suffer with the brat that she had. I got a much better deal with you. You remember that anytime he picks on you.”

Maddie giggled. “Okay Momma, I will.”

Mira stood back watching. Maddie’s problem was taken of, she wished she could speak up about hers. She looked over at Grif, if anyone would understand, he would.

He returned her stare. “You okay there kiddo?”

She hesitated a second before chickening out. “Yeah Daddy.” She lost her chance.

“Are you sure, cause you know I love you and would do anything for you, right? Except share my hamburger…so if that’s what you want, you’re outta luck.”

She smiled. “No Daddy, that’s okay. I love you too.” The party continued on around her, she barely even noticed…

Later that night, Mira invaded Jake’s bedroom. “Jakey, I need your help.”

He was reading his magic book. “Go away, I’m busy. It’s almost bedtime anyway.”

She calmly snatched the book from his hands. “Hey, give it back!”

“No, I need your help with my reading. You’re the only one I can talk to.”

She looked serious, so Jake gave her his attention. “Why don’t you tell Dad about it?”

“Cause he’ll think I’m stupid.”

“It seems to me like you’ll look more stupid if you keep playing dumb.”

She sighed. “Not if you’re helping me. You’re a genius, the teacher will never know the difference.”

“I don’t get why you’re having trouble with reading anyway. Maybe the teacher’s right, you’re not paying attention.”

Mira’s face burned with rage. “I am too! When I look at the letters, they look all funny to me. I can sorta read them, but it takes me forever to figure it out.”

“Maybe you just need glasses.”

“No, Daddy yelled about how expensive Dex’s glasses were. Will you help me Jake?”

“Fine, stop bugging me and I’ll try my best.”

“You’re the best twin brother ever.” She gave him a suffocating hug, he grimaced in pain.

“Give me my book and scram.”

She went back to her room with a big smile on her face. She fixed her problem and Simmons didn’t need to know about it.

Now she had Jake to do her schoolwork for her…


	9. Chapter 9

For two days, Mira’s little scheme seemed to work. Her seat work was turned in on time, thanks to copying from Jake’s paper. Mrs. Summers was actually proud of her progress.

“My, what an improvement you’re making Mira.” She hung her paper at the very center of the blackboard. “There, the perfect spot for my most improved student.”

Mira beamed with pride. No way was she going to give all this attention up. “Reading turned out to be easier than I thought.” She shot a secret wink to Jake.

He felt a twinge if jealousy. He never had his papers hung up like that for all to see before. He did all the work, his sister didn’t.

At first, he was okay with their arrangements, but by Wednesday, his conscious was bothering him. This was no better than cheating and he didn’t like it. He had to talk to Mira without the teacher hanging around.

It was no actual surprise to Mira or the other kids in their class, that Jake and Alyssa we’re now officially friends. (“She’s not girlfriend!” He always yelled to Mira.) The two of them usually played catch together at recess. But this particular morning, he cornered Mira.

“I don’t know how much longer I can keep all this up.”

“Keep what up?” She asked with fake innocence.

“Doing your seat work for you. It feels like cheating, you need to do your own schoolwork instead of copying mine.”

She was afraid of this, Jake had too much of a conscience. “No, I’m not copying, you’re teaching me.”

He didn’t look convinced. “How is this helping you to learn anything?”

Mira had to think up an answer. “Oh, but I’m definitely learning. You’re such a good teacher, I’m learning the lessons by watching you. Pretty soon, I’ll be able to do my seat work on my own.”

Jake looked flattered. Of course he knew he’d be the one to teach Mira how to read. “Well all right, I guess it’s okay then. But you really got to tell Dad you’re having trouble with it. I don’t want to get in trouble.”

She was so relieved. “Yeah, sure I will. Hey, I think Alyssa wants you to play with her. We’ll talk about this later.” Much later.

She was so relieved when he left. She let out a big, exhausted sigh, kindergarten was harder than she thought. More than once, Mrs. Summers almost caught her copying from Jake. 

She yelled at Mira for not paying attention. At this point, Mira was happier with that then being yelled at for not being able to read.

She went to play in the swings for the rest of recess. She would worry about her problems with her seat work later.

Mira didn’t have long to wait, after recess, the class was studying the letter ‘C’ by circling pictures on a worksheet. She leaned over the desk as far as she could to peek at Jake’s paper. He always finished so quickly, she had a hard time keeping up.

“Mira, are you paying attention?”

Mrs. Summers’ sudden voice startled her. She jumped so high, she almost fell off her chair. The kids all giggled at her, they thought she was goofing around. She figured she would go with it.

She recovered quickly and gave her best innocent look. “Yes, of course I am.” The kids giggled again. Mira was glad to have a distraction. Jake groaned and covered his face. She was embarrassing him. They were going to caught, he just knew it.

Mrs. Summers frowned slightly. She felt like she busted Mira for something, but wasn’t sure what. “Alright then, finish up your paper. I don’t want to have to tell you one more time to pay attention to your own work.”

While the class was busy finishing their assignment, Mrs. Summers made a quick phone call. She had been meaning to get ahold of Simmons. She knew about Mira’s asthma, she needed to know if she was on any other medications. This child was just too hyper, she needed something to help her calm down.

The morning passed by quietly. Soon the parents were lining up at the door to collect their kids. One of the last parents through the door was Simmons. Usually, he was at work this time of day. He waved to the twins as soon as they seen him.

Jake got all excited and ran to him. “Hi Daddy. How come you’re not at work?”

Simmons gave him a hug and then got all serious. “Your teacher called and said she wanted to talk to me about something important, so I took the afternoon off.” He looked straight at Mira with his left eyebrow raised. He walked over to the teacher’s desk.

Her stomach dropped, he knew, Mrs. Summers ratted her out. She whispered to Jake. “We’re in trouble now.”

He looked all worried as he tried to read their lips to get a clue of how mad they were going to be at him. It was all Mira’s fault, he would start out with that defense.

Simmons’ stomach lurched as he approached the teacher’s desk. She was finishing up grading a worksheet. He knew his kids weren’t perfect, but they were his, he hated to hear any bad news about them. He stammered nervously. “Yyyes Mrs. Summers. Yyyou wanted to ssspeak with me?”

She gave him a welcoming smile. “Yes Mr. Simmons.” She motioned to the chair beside her. “Please sit down, this will only take a minute.”

He had a good idea who the problem was about. “What has Mira done this time?” He knew it couldn’t possibly be about Jake.

She let a small chuckle. “Oh goodness, it’s not exactly anything that she’s done. It’s just that I’m a little worried about her.”

Simmons frowned slightly. “Why, what’s going on?”

“I’m going to come right out and say this. I’m aware that she has asthma and breathing issues, but has she ever been tested for any hyperactivity issues?”

His frown deepened. “You mean ADHD? I know she’s really active, she’s been that way since she was a baby, but I didn’t think she was that bad.”

“Oh, she’s not for the most part. I only noticed she has issues with listening and paying attention. Most five year olds have problems with this, I’m only concerned since it seems to be interfering with her schoolwork.”

Now he was worried. He looked over where the twins were playing with play doh. Mira was trying to smear it on Jake’s face and he dodged away laughing. She was always overactive because she couldn’t get the exercise she needed because of her asthma…wasn’t it?

She drove him crazy most of the time, but he really loved her, he would protect her from anything. Where others saw a problem child, he saw Mira being Mira. He wouldn’t want her to act any other way. Still, if she had a problem and needed medication, he would do it for her, he would do whatever it took to help her.

He nodded slowly. “I’ll talk with my husband later tonight and bring it up with Mira’s doctor. It’s best to have this taken care of before it becomes a problem.”

Mira noticed he kept staring at her, she waited for one of his boring lectures about needing to try harder, but it never came. He put on a fake smile and took both of their hands.

“I’m not in trouble am I Daddy?” She looked nervous. She wished she could tell him the truth, but she chickened out.

“No, not at all. Is there a reason you should be?”

Jake opened his mouth, Mira quickly kicked his leg to shut him up.

“Nope.” She held onto Simmons’ hand tightly and stayed close to his side. He looked down and a gave her an encouraging smile.

She never felt more terrible, how badly she wanted to confide in her Dads…


	10. Chapter 10

“Damnit Simmons, you gotta be kidding me! This is bullshit, no way does Mira need to be on more meds!” Grif’s reaction was pretty much what Simmons expected.

“I don’t want her on any medications any more than you do, but we need to think about what’s best for her.”

“It’s sure not being doped up on medicine all the time. There’s nothing wrong with her, she’s just an active kid. What five year old isn’t?”

“Surely not you when you were five.”

“We’re not talking about me. Anyway, she acts more like you do with all this hyper bullshit, so what’s your excuse? You need to be tested for ADHD, not her.”

Simmons groaned. “Grif, be reasonable…” On and on, they argued.

Mira hid away in her bedroom, she hated hearing her Dads fight. It was all her fault, that and her stupid reading. She buried herself under her bedspread. She heard a knock at the door.

Jake pushed his way in, he didn’t look happy. “I don’t like all the fighting. Can I come in?”

She pulled back the blankets. “Hop in.” They both huddled under the covers like a fort. At least the arguing didn’t sound so loud under here. Soon, it stopped altogether. Simmons knocked on the door before pushing his way in. Both kids stuck their heads out.

“Why are you guys hiding under there?”

Jake looked scared. “We didn’t like all the arguing.”

Simmons looked concerned. “Sorry about that. Your Father is being stubborn. Come on out, it’s almost time for dinner.”

The twins didn’t look convinced, especially Mira. “This isn’t because of me, is it?” Her parents came close enough to a divorce as it was. Mira was the one who got them out of it.

Simmons had to choose his words carefully. He and Grif still hasn’t decided on how to handle Mira’s ADHD, or even if she had it. He wanted to talk with Dr. Grey first. There was no point worrying her until it was necessary.

“No honey, it’s not. We had a discussion… a very loud one. It’s all over with.” He reached for their hands. “Come on, I made tacos for tonight.”

Jake looked convinced and took his hand. Mira hung back a second. She looked up into Simmons’ tired green eyes to see if he was telling the truth. He gave her a sad smile.

Without a word, she took his hand and went with him. She didn’t want her Dads to be unhappy anymore…

  


Simmons took the next day off of work, he planned on talking to Dr. Grey about Mira. Emily was like a mother to her, if anyone understood her behavior, she would.

Still, he felt bad. Grey was still on maternity leave after she and Carolina adopted little Allie. He hated bugging her when she was off duty. But she was the only doctor he trusted.

She answered the door after the first knock. Her face was covered in flour and she had it all over her purple shirt. “Ahh Simmons. Entrez mon ami.” She was speaking in a fake French accent today. “You’re almost in time for breakfast. I was teaching ‘Lina how to make homemade pancakes.”

She guided Simmons in by arm to the kitchen. She left a floured handprint on his sleeve. The kitchen was in shambles, flour was spilled everywhere and a dozen eggs lay broken on the floor. Carolina had Maddie helping to mix a large bowl of batter. The two of them were more covered in flour than Emily was.

Simmons blushed, he knew he should have called first. The family was enjoying their day off, he shouldn’t have barged in on them. “I’m sorry guys, if I knew you were busy, I wouldn’t have come over like this. I just had a question about Mira.” He narrowly missed slipping from the broken eggs.

Carolina wiped the pancake batter from her hands and gave a small smile. “Don’t worry about it. Turns out I have no talent for cooking, so you saved me.”

Grey looked around at the mess and shook her head. “Yeah… that’s accurate. The broken eggs are your fault by the way.”

“Me? You’re the one that threw the carton at me. I only asked you to toss me an egg, not the carton.” Carolina could hardly keep from laughing.

“Well, you’re supposed to be this great warrior, I assumed you would catch it.” Now they both were laughing.

He was amazed at the change in Carolina when she was relaxing at home with her family. Her smile was relaxed and wasn’t forced. She almost seemed…nice. She was way less scary than she normally was.

Maddie dropped the wooden mixing spoon and ran to him. “Hi Uncle Simmons! I’m helping Mommy cook.” She was completely covered in flour. She gave him a big hug, now he had it all over his burgundy shirt.

He didn’t mind it, he loved the little girl. She was always a sweet, agreeable child, so different from Mira’s temper tantrums…he felt guilty thinking it. He loved Mira the way she was.

“I see that, you’re a really good helper, aren’t you?”

She nodded modestly. Little Allie woke up from her nap and cried for her Mothers. Carolina took Maddie’s hand. “How about you help me with the baby so your Mom and Uncle Simmons can talk?”

She was agreeable. “‘Kay Mommy.”

When they left, Emily slid a kitchen chair at him. “So, what’s wrong with Miss Mira?”

“Do you think she has any hyperactivity issues?”

She frowned. “Why, do you think she has ADHD or something?”

“I don’t think so, but her teacher does. She been having trouble concentrating, and you have to admit she gets really hyper. I’ve been googling it online, I think she has a lot of the signs. Maybe you could prescribe her some medicine.”

“You know I couldn’t until she’s checked over, I don’t want to go giving her Ritalin if she doesn’t need it. She’s only five, it may not be good for her.”

“But she gets so hyper and moody.”

Grey sighed. “My staff is treating a seven year old boy who is legitimately ADHD, believe me, Mira is nowhere near as bad as he is. There’s more to it than just being hyper. Most ADHD kids never calm down and can be quite self centered. Mira is so calm and patient with my girls, I trust them playing with her. I say something else is wrong.”

Now Simmons felt lost. “Well, what is it? She won’t tell me.”

“She’s your own daughter, sit down and talk to her. You might be amazed at what you find out.”

“If she was going to talk to anyone, it would be Grif.”

“Look how Maddie couldn’t talk to me about the bully, she usually tells me everything. Later that night, she confided in Carolina. Mira may actually tell you more than Grif.”

He doubted it. “I still say she’s way too hyper, it’s not normal.”

Carolina’s voice startled him. “It’s because you never let the kid do anything. You treat her like she’s going to break, let her live a little.”

Simmons got defensive. “But what about her asthma?” He backed down and changed his tone when he saw her glaring at him. “I don’t want her to get hurt.”

“She won’t, she’s more levelheaded than you think. She knows when to stop.” Carolina hesitated. “That ability took me years to master. We can be workout buddies after school a few days a week. See if that helps first.”

He didn’t have the courage to argue with her and with the way Dr. Grey nodded her head in agreement, poor Simmons knew he was beaten.

“Alright, I’ll give it a shot.” He only hoped he wouldn’t regret his decision…


	11. Chapter 11

Later that evening, Simmons was cutting up the vegetables for the salad for dinner. He was struggling with exactly the right way to talk to Mira. This was his own daughter and he was drawing a blank on what to say. As usual, he was clueless when it came to talking to girls.

Dex grabbed his soccer ball out of the hall closet and hollered to Jake. “C’mon, hurry up and we’ll get some more soccer practice in. We’re going to be playing with Chloe again this weekend.”

Jake tried to hurry, he was tripping over his untied sneaker as he ran. Simmons looked up and stopped him on his way out. “Woah, stop for a second and tie that shoe before you go any further.”

“Aww Dad, Dex said to hurry.” He bent down and tied the lace tightly.

“Dex can wait a minute, safety first, you know the rules. Are you sure you don’t want to stay and help with the salad? You always enjoy helping me make dinner.”

Jake looked embarrassed. “Um, not today, I really want to play with Dex.”

Simmons was happy to see the kids playing with something besides video games. “Sure, that’s fine. We can hang out later tonight then.”

Jake hesitated for a second. “Yeah sure, gotta go Dad.”

Simmons had the sinking feeling that the older Jake got, the less he wanted to be seen with him. Simmons even had Grif mad at him, now he had nobody. Mira came out, practically running to catch up with her brothers. No way was she going to left out of anything.

Now was Simmons’ chance, he could talk her without the boys being a distraction. “Mira, slow down, I haven’t had a chance to talk to you much today. How did your day go?”

She slowed down, but she wasn’t happy about it. The boys were already starting without her. “It was good Daddy.” She edged her way closer to the door.

“That’s nice, what did you learn today?”

“Some stuff.” She had her hand on the doorknob.

“Well, what kind of stuff?”

“Same old boring alphabet stuff as usual.” She tried to turn the doorknob. She kept looking out the door, she wasn’t even paying attention to him.

“Boring stuff Huh? Would you want to help me make the salad for dinner?” He was desperate to get her attention.

She made a face. “Nah, that’s more Jake’s thing, not mine. I reeeealy wanna go play. See ya Daddy.” She flew out the door before he could say another word. Again, he felt like he was getting snubbed by his kids.

“I don’t blame her, no one wants a crappy salad to eat.”

Simmons jumped, he was so focused on Mira, he didn’t even head Grif come in. “How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough to hear you crash and burn with your weak attempts at conversation. No wonder Mira took off.”

Simmons watched the three kids playing from the kitchen window. “I don’t blame her, I can’t even talk to her without getting all nervous. I know something’s bothering her, and I can’t help her. She’s still my baby, I want her to be happy.”

“She is happy. She’s out running around and being a normal kid. You know you can’t force her to do something until she’s ready to do it. She gets that from me. When she’s ready, she’ll tell you what’s wrong. Until then, chill out and let her be.”

Simmons sighed. “They’re growing up so fast, they won’t need me anymore.”

Grif shook his head at the drama routine. “Of course they will. They may be getting older, but they still love you.” He unexpectedly put his arms around Simmons. “Hell, I love you too. I’ll always need you.”

Simmons felt better as he leaned back against Grif’s chest. Of course he was right. It helped Simmons’ bruised ego to hear it.

As if on cue, there was a commotion outside. Jake yelled. “Daddy!” And came limping to the house.

Simmons broke loose from Grif’s embrace and went to meet him at the door. The left knee of his jeans was scuffed and blood was dripping from his wound. Simmons helped him through the door.

Dex came in right behind him, he was looking all flustered. “Sorry Dad, Sorry Jake. I kicked the ball too hard to him. I’m used to playing with Chloe, she’s wicked at soccer.”

“Are you alright Jake?” Simmons knelt down to get a better look.

Jake stopped screaming, but he was still sniffling. “No, I don’t think I’m any good at soccer. I’m never playing again.”

Grif rolled his eyes. “Yeah right, you’ll be out there playing at the next game.”

“Come on Jake, I’ll get your knee all fixed up and you’ll be fine.” Simmons tried to baby him. He rolled up the leg of the jeans so he could check the wound. It was a badly scraped knee, which was Simmons figured.

Jake saw the blood running down his leg, he turned pure white and his eyes were wide with panic. “I won’t bleed to death will I?”

Mira came in and instantly tried to take charge. “Don’t you worry Jakey, I’ll be your blood donor if you do. I’m a doctor in training, I can save you like Dr. Grey.”

Simmons looked at her in amazement. “I can’t believe you know what that means.” She really was learning things by hanging around with the Doctor. He thought it was only playing.

Grif gave her an affectionate chuckle. “That’s my girl, you’re gonna be a great doctor yet.”

Jake kept whimpering all the way to the bathroom. He tried not to look at his leg. Mira was trying to help Simmons. “I could always make a tourniquet for his leg if he’s bleeding too much.”

That make Jake cry out in horror. “Daddy, save me.”

“Don’t listen to her, your leg is hardly bleeding. It looks worse than it is.” He turned to Mira. He was amazed that she knew what it was. “Thank you honey, but that won’t be necessary.”

She looked sad and hung her head. He felt bad for her. She only wanted to help.

“How about you help me clean the clean wound and I’ll let you out the bandaid on the scrape.”

She cheered up. She worked quickly on cleaning Jake’s wound. She had it plastered with bandaids before he could cry out again. He looked a lot better when she was done. He could actually smile as he tried to walk.

“Wow, you know what you’re doing. You are a good doctor.” He clumsily limped you his room.

She should have been pleased, but it made her sad. If she never learned to read, she could never be a doctor like she wanted to. Tears sprang into her eyes. If she could be so smart about treating Jake’s leg, how could she be so stupid with something as easy as reading.

Simmons was watching her. “You okay there honey?” He wanted so much to take her into his arms so she could tell him all her troubles and he could make it better. He thought about what Grif said, it had to be on her terms, so he held back.

Mira felt her stubbornness melt away. Simmons liked to yell and overreact, but he would get over it, he would forgive her. She wanted to tell him about her reading problems, then she wouldn’t have to fight with it on her own. She needed her Dad’s help.

Grif’s panicked voice yelled out to Simmons. “Hey, I think your roast is on fire!” The smell of smoke reached the bathroom. Simmons jumped up and panicked.

“Oh lord, what else can go wrong!” He ran out to try to salvage dinner.

Mira was left standing by herself. She was so close, but it looked like she was in her own again…


	12. Chapter 12

Mira’s Friday morning started out as boring as usual. It was rainy and dismal out, there would be no recess out in the playground. Mira was already missing it, she hated having to play indoors.

She was watching at the window, trying to wish the rain away. Her breath fogged up the glass. She drew shapes on the fog, it looked like a tic-tac-toe board. She drew a circle in one of the spaces.

“C’mon Jake, draw an X and try to block me.”

“Mira, don’t do that, you’re smudging up the glass.” Mrs. Summers sounded tired today. “You and Jake take your seats, we’re starting art class. Now won’t that be fun?”

Mira mumbled under her breath. “No, not really.”

The teacher passed out sheets printed with autumn leaves. “Okay kids, get out your crayons and color your leaves. Then carefully cut them out.” She handed each one a cardboard circle of a wreath. “You’ll glue your leaves onto the cardboard and you have a nice fall wreath to take home.”

All the kids went straight to work on coloring. Mira stared at the crayons, she hated this part. She selected her orange crayon and tried to color inside the lines. It looked too light, so she pressed down harder. She tore through the paper. She got frustrated and wanted to quit.

“Having some troubles there Mira?” Mrs. Summers looked sympathetic. She handed her a fresh sheet. “Here, try again, I’m sure you’ll get it.”

Without breaking through the paper, she sloppily scribbled the leaves. Now came the hard part, she never could cut out anything properly, she had issues staying inside the lines. Several of her leaves came out lopsided, but at least she had them cut out. The gluing was the hard part.

She squeezed the glue container, nothing came out. She squeezed it a little harder, a lot of glue shot out. She tried to spread it around the back of her leaves, but it was way too soggy. They smeared and tore as she tried to hang them on the cardboard. No one else was having this much trouble, why was it only her?

With tears of frustration in her eyes, she thrust her project towards Jake. “Here, fix this.”

He frowned at her. “What do you want me to go about it? I’m only supposed to help you with your reading.”

She pleaded with her eyes. “Pleeeesse Jakey.”

His frown deepened, he didn’t like his twin sister anymore. “Fine, give it to me.” He tried to fix it the best he could. It wasn’t perfect, but it would have to do. “Is that alright?” He thrust back to her.

She gave him a big smile. “Thank you Jakey.”

“Mira Grif-Simmons! Why is your brother doing your art project for you?” Mrs. Summers had been watching the entire time.

Mira turned pale. She had gotten confident through the week that her teacher wouldn’t catch her. “Umm, I’m not good at art and I didn’t want it to look messy.” She was at least being honest.

“I am very disappointed in both of you. Your Fathers want to see an art project that you made by yourself, not one that someone else made for you. Now start paying attention and focus on your own work, and not what’s going on around you. Start caring about your own education.”

Jake bent his head down in shame. “Now look what you did, I told you we’d get in trouble. I don’t want Mrs. Summers yelling at me.”

Mira made a face at him. “You’re such a kiss up Jake, grow up.” But deep down, the comments hurt her. She was trying, she did care. She was used to learning everything else so quickly, why was this a problem. Dex and Jake were practically geniuses, what was wrong with her?

“Start cleaning up children. We’ll be beginning our seat work shortly. It’s all going to be about mastering the letter ‘D’.”

Mira’s stomach lurched. Here was another lesson she wouldn’t be good at. She wondered if she could play sick and go home early. The worksheets were passed out. She stared at how weird the printing looked to her. She wanted to raise her hand and explain it to the teacher, but she had already gotten yelled at, so she didn’t dare.

Jake looked over at her, she honestly looked like she was panicking. For the first time, he believed her, she really couldn’t read the letters. He tried to whisper over. “Tell the teacher you need help.”

Mira blinked back her tears. “I can’t she’s mad at me. Jake, I need you to help.” She slid her paper over to him.

He tried to slide it back. “Cut it out. She’s going to yell at both of us.”

“She won’t if you shut up about it. C’mon, you gotta help me.”

“Mira…stop it!” Jake accidentally yelled it too loud. The whole classroom got quiet. He covered his mouth with his hand, but it was too late, Mrs. Summers heard.

“Mira, Jacob, what did I tell you before?” She came over to inspect what was going on. “So this is why your reading suddenly got better? Have you been copying from your brother this entire time?”

Mira nodded sadly.

Mrs. Summers was very angry. “I am so disappointed, both of you go sit in the corner until the end of class. I will be calling your Dad to tell him about this.”

Jake was so humiliated, tears of shame streamed down his face as he stared at the wall.

Mira felt bad, she didn’t mean to get him in trouble. She whispered. “Jake, Jake, Jake.”

He refused to look. “Shut up, I’m never talking to you again.”

The teacher looked over. “No talking you two.”

Mira sighed dramatically and waited for the long, boring lecture she was in for when Simmons came for her.

Simmons didn’t look happy when he marched up to Mrs. Summers’ desk. “I am so sorry about all this.” He was embarrassed.

“It’s not your fault, it’s not Mira’s fault, she can’t help it. ADHD is a medical condition, she just needs the right help.”

“I talked with her doctor, but she doesn’t think Mira classifies as ADHD. I will have her checked over with another doctor though.”

The teacher nodded. “I think that’s the best thing for her.” She handed Simmons a stack of papers. “These are all the seat work assignments that Mira has cheated on. Have you or your husband sit with her and be sure she brings them in on Monday. It’s the only way she’s going to learn.”

Simmons nodded, he didn’t want it to have to come to this. “I’ll make my husband do it, those two are so much alike. Thank you Mrs. Summers.” He went over to the twins. “You two come on now! You’re both grounded.”

“And you two will be separated when you come in on Monday. I’m putting an end to this.” Mrs. Summers was firm about it.

Mira looked up at Simmons with big, scared eyes. “But Daddy, Jake was helping me.”

It broke Simmons’ heart to turn away from her. “I don’t care why you did it, cheating is wrong, I am very angry at you, both of you.”

Mira sighed, she would be the first kid ever to flunk out of kindergarten.


	13. Chapter 13

Simmons sighed deeply as he dialed the number for the doctor’s office. He hated going against Dr. Grey’s judgment, she really was the only one he trusted with the kids, but he was desperate. A low dosage of Ritalin wouldn’t hurt Mira.

Dr. Rachael Hill answered on the second ring. “Hello, this Dr. Hill, how may I help you?”

Simmons took in a deep breath, he hoped he had the courage to do this. Dr. Hill had temporarily took over Dr. Grey’s position at the hospital until she came back from her leave. He didn’t know why he was nervous, Dr. Hill had been trained by Grey, she knew all the patients, including Mira, but it wasn’t the same. Why was he nervous?

He stammered, trying to find the right words. “Uuum hello, this is Dick Grif-Simmons. I was calling about my daughter Mira.”

It took her only a second to recognize Mira’s name, she was a very iconic regular at the hospital. “Aww, Mira’s Daddy! How is the little angel doing? She was always Emily’s favorite patient.”

Simmons resisted the urge to chuckle, he hardly ever thought of Mira as being angelic. “Uuhhh, health wise, she’s fine. Attention wise, she’s not doing too well. Kindergarten isn’t starting out too well for her.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. What do you think is her problem?”

“Her teacher suggested she has ADHD, and I’m thinking she’s right. I’ve googled some information about Mira, and she seems to fit the category. We were thinking of putting her on a low dosage of Ritalin. As our family doctor, you can write her a prescription.” He sounded professional and sure of himself.

Dr. Hill hesitated. “Has she been checked by a psychiatrist? I certainly don’t want to prescribe drugs that she may not need.” She didn’t automatically trust parents who thought they were medical experts.

“Well not exactly. She’s having problems focusing on her schoolwork and her teacher’s concerned about her. Web MD had lots of information about it and I feel that I’m making the right decision.” His confidence was fading drastically.

Again she hesitated. “Well, if that’s what you want to do. I can squeeze you in for a visit at 1pm. I’ll check her over and ask her a few questions and we’ll take it from there.”

Simmons nodded, that was fair. “Okay, thank you Doctor. We’ll see you tomorrow.” He hung up the phone and practically ran into Grif. He didn’t look too happy.

Simmons jumped. “Damnit Grif, stop doing that.”

Grif glared accusingly at him. “What’s this about taking Mira to the doctor’s tomorrow? Do not even tell me you’re bothering Doc Grey over something stupid.”

“No, it was Dr. Hill.” He looked guilty before confessing. “I talked to Emily yesterday about Mira.”

Grif rolled his eyes. “And what did she have to say about it?”

He avoided looking Grif in the eyes. “Pretty much the same thing you said.” He raised his head. “But I know I’m right, I researched it.”

“Oh my god, just because you looked it up on online, it does not make you a medical expert. It only makes you more of a loser. Leave my kid alone.”

Simmons couldn’t believe that shot. “She’s as much my kid as she is yours.”

“Oh yeah, well which parent does she like more right now, me or you?”

Simmons’ eyes stung with tears. “I do believe I was the one who had to leave work early to pick those two up when they got busted for cheating on Mira’s schoolwork. I’m the one that has the bad guy and discipline them since you let them get away with whatever the hell they want.” The tears flowed down his cheeks.

Grif’s warm brown eyes shone with remorse. He put a hand on Simmons’ arm. “Hey come on now, I didn’t mean that. Maybe she does need to get checked over. Something is definitely bothering her.”

“Why are you guys fighting again, you both promised you wouldn’t. And why do I have to go the doctor’s, I ain’t sick.” Mira looked ticked.

Simmons flinched at her bad grammar. “Your teacher thinks you have a problem with keeping your attention on your schoolwork. I happen to agree with it. You’re going to see Dr. Hill tomorrow for some medicine for it.”

Mira’s face turned red. “No, I don’t wanna. I can’t go to Dr. Hill, Dr. Grey is my doctor. She’s my bestest friend, she wouldn’t let you give me medicine I don’t need. It won’t help me with my reading.”

Simmons sighed, he didn’t have the energy left for one of her famous temper tantrums. “Yes it will. You’ll be able to focus on your reading a lot better. Trust me, you’ll see.”

“No, I just don’t read good, I don’t want more medicine.”

“We’ll decide all that tomorrow. And by the way, your teacher sent home all the worksheets you cheated on. Now you have to sit with your Dad and finish them all for Monday.”

Mira huffed and scowled deeply at him. She knew he wouldn’t understand.

Grif looked up. “Why am I being punished too?”

Simmons shot him a look. “Since you’re her favorite parent, I figured you wouldn’t mind.”

With that look on Simmons’ face, Grif knew better than to argue with him. He pulled up a kitchen chair and motioned to Mira to join him. “Whoever heard of getting homework in kindergarten?” He grumbled.

“It’s only Friday, why do I hafta do this now?”

Simmons wasn’t giving in. “The sooner you do it, the sooner it’ll be done. You two get started, I’ll check on Jake.”

Simmons found Jake buried under his bedspread crying. He tapped on the blanket. “Jakey, you okay under there?”

He sniffled. “No, I never will be. I hate getting yelled at. Now you and my teacher both hate me.” He cried harder.

Simmons pulled back the covers to give him a hug. “No buddy, I don’t hate you. I’ve been upset over Mira. The teacher’s phone call drove me over the edge. I’m not mad at you anymore.”

“So it’s okay that I helped Mira?”

“It’s not okay. If you keep doing her work for her, she’ll never learn how to do it herself.”

Boy this reminding him of all the tears in the military with Grif. The twins really were Grif and Simmons all over again.

Jake nodded, his tears slowed down. “I understand Daddy.”

Simmons took his hand. “Come on, we can check on how Mira’s homework is going.”

Mira was near tears as she struggled with the simple words printed on the page. She kept confusing D’s with B’s. Grif tried to be supportive, at first he thought she was faking it, but now he wasn’t so sure.

“Daddy, I can’t do this, I’m too stupid.”

“No you’re not stupid, take your time and sound the letters out.”

When she wrote out “dog” like “bog” for the fifth time, she threw her pencil down in frustration. Simmons came out just in time for her tantrum. He had to discipline her, Grif never would.

“Mira Kai, no tantrum is getting you out of this, so do your work.”

Mira threw her papers across the kitchen. “I told you, I can’t. It’s hard for me to read, but you don’t listen. You don’t like me, you never do, you’re always being mean. I’m running away, this time for real!”

She slammed the door to her room. They could head her sobs from the kitchen.

Grif muttered under his breath. “Damn, she really wasn’t faking that.”

Simmons ran his hands through his short, ginger curls, he felt awful. How could he fail his little girl like that?

He felt like the worst father ever…


	14. Chapter 14

Simmons couldn’t keep his tears from falling. He felt horrible, all this time, Mira was trying to tell him and he never listened. “This is all my fault. I knew something was bothering her, even Dr. Grey said it. I should have sat down with her and gave her all my attention. She needed me.”

Grif put an arm around him and pulled him closer. “Hey, don’t take it so hard.” He shook his head. “Hell, even I thought she was faking it at first.”

“I should go talk to her.”

“No, with this mood she’s in, she won’t talk to you. I better go do it, she always talks to me.”

Simmons patted his hand. He appreciated Grif offering to help out with the kids more. “Thanks, but I really do need to do it. I won’t feel better until I do.”

From the living room they both heard Jake whimpering. Simmons elbowed Grif. “I think he really needs you now.” Grif nodded and went to check.

Jake was curled up on the couch crying. Grif sat beside him and put his around him. “Hi there Jakey, what’s the matter?”

Jake buried his face against his Dad’s shoulder and continued crying. “I’m worried about Mira, she’s gonna run away for real now.”

“Oh, don’t you worry about little miss con artist, she’s not going anywhere. You know how your Dad is, he would trail along right behind her.”

Jake’s crying slowed down some, but Grif didn’t the laugh he hoped to get. He had to try harder. “I heard how you two got busted for cheating, was that all Mira’s idea too?”

Jake nodded. “She told me how she had trouble reading. I was only supposed to help her until she got better at it.”

“And pretty soon, you were doing all the work for her?”

Jake nodded again. He was too ashamed to look up.

Grif had to force back a smile. Mira really was him and Jake was like Simmons. “That brings back memories of when your Dad and I were on Red Team.” He got serious. “If you knew about Mira, why didn’t you tell either of us?”

Jake finally looked up at his Dad. “Because she made me promise not to.”

Grif shook his head and handed Jake a tissue. “Don’t worry about it anymore kiddo, it’ll be alright.”

That made Jake cry harder. “No, the teacher yelled at me today! I’ve never been yelled at, I don’t like it.”

Grif couldn’t help but chuckle, this really was Simmons’ kid. “Just go into class Monday and be the perfect overachiever I know you can be, and she’ll forget all about it. Basically, go be a total suck up like your Dad.” He gave him a teasing wink.

Jake allowed a little smile, he was feeling better. Dex came running in and threw his book bag on the table. He took one look at how upset Grif and Jake looked. “What’s wrong now?”

Jake answered him. “Mira’s gonna run away.”

“Good, it’ll be more quiet around here. You go and join her and I’ll be an only child again.”

Grif shot him a warning look, Dex looked guilty. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that, she’ll be fine. Come on out and play Jake.”

Jake looked at Grif. “Go ahead, it’ll get your mind off of things.”

Jake nodded and took off. Grif hoped that Simmons could do the same for Mira.

Mira used all her energy making her sobs sound as pitiful as possible, now she was worn out. She heard footsteps approaching, instantly there were fresh tears. That would teach her Dad to be mean to her.

Simmons softly knocked on the door, her sobbing got louder. “Can I come in honey?”

“No, you’re mean to me!”

“Mira, I am not being mean. I need to talk to you. I’m coming in.”

She was laying on her bed. She turned to face the wall when he came in. He sat beside her anyway. He tried to touch her arm, but she flinched away from him.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were having problems with your reading?”

She turned her tear stained face to look at him. “I tried, but you didn’t believe me. Everyone thought I was faking it, no one likes me. I’m gonna run away.” She waited for him to tell her she was wrong.

Here came the dramatics. “Really, where are you going to?”

She wasn’t expecting that, she had to think. “Grandma and Grandpa Sarge. They still love me.”

“But there’re on vacation to Earth one last time before their wedding.”

“Oh…Then Dr. Grey, she’s my bestest friend. She’ll be nice to me.”

“She has her own family now. With two little girls of her own, she’ll be awfully busy.”

Mira was determined. “Then I’ll move in at the park. This way, I can play whenever I want to.”

“It looks like rain today, do you have any shelter?”

She looked determined. “I don’t need any.”

Simmons nodded. “Okay, how about joining us for one last meal before you go, then I’ll drive you over to the park.”

She looked up at him, her green eyes were wide. She never doubted that her Dad didn’t love her, she always thought he did. Now, she didn’t know what to think. Her lips quivered. “Okay Daddy.” Her voice quivered. “You really want me to go?”

Simmons tried to keep from cracking a smile. His plot was working. “No, of course I don’t.”

She hesitated, it took a second for her to process what was going on. “Then why did you make me think you did?”

“Because you’re so stubborn, you wouldn’t listen to me any other way.”

She knew he was right. “But why do you want me to? I’m not smart like Dex and Jake are.”

“Yes, you are too. You have a reading disorder called dyslexia, it’s not your fault.”

She frowned as she tried to say it, she soon gave up. “I can’t even say it, and I don’t want it.”

“I don’t know much about it myself. But don’t worry, I’ll google it online and I can tutor you on your reading.”

She rolled her eyes, Simmons became an expert on everything when he checked it online. “Am I still being punished?”

Simmons thought about it. “No, I guess not. But under one condition. Whenever something’s bothering you, I don’t care what it is, come and tell me. You know, your Grandma and Sarge aren’t the only ones who love you. I’m crazy about you, even though you try to drive me crazy.”

He got a giggle out of her. “Okay, I promise. I love you too Daddy.” She gave him a hug. This was a proud Dad moment for Simmons, she usually avoided him and went to Grif.

From the opened bedroom window, they could hear Dex and Jake having fun outside. Mira looked wistfully out the window. Even though it stopped raining a while ago, her allergies were still acting up. There was no way her Dad would let her go outside like this.

Simmons saw the sad look on her face. He remembered what Carolina had said, he had to let Mira live a little. If she had an asthma attack, he’d have to live with the guilt.

“Would you like to go out and join them?”

She stared at him, was this a trick question? “What about my asthma?”

He shook his head. “Keep your inhaler with you and you’ll be fine.”

She squealed happily, gave him a second hug, and went running for the door. At least she was happy and didn’t hate him; for now.

Simmons could live with that.


	15. Chapter 15

Dex and Jake came into the kitchen to grab a couple of popsicles from the freezer. Mira came skipping into the kitchen with a big smile on her face. Dex looked up from his green popsicle.

“Why do you look so happy, I thought you were taking off?”

Mira shrugged. “I was, but me and Daddy talked it out, he really, really wants me to stay, so I’m giving him a second chance.”

“Yay!” Jake was so relieved.

Grif watched the scene in amusement. “I’m glad you forgave him. He’s a pain sometimes, but he means well.

Mira looked at her brothers eating popsicles and felt left out. She was a little too short to reach back into the freezer. “Ugh, I want a popsicle too!”

Dex was surprisingly nice and got one out for her. “I’m kinda glad you’re going to stay. Just don’t expect me to admit it later on when you’re driving me crazy.”

Mira giggled as she struggled to open the wrapper. Dex was getting bored. “Since Mira is here, let’s go back out and play.”

Mira gave Grif a quick hug on her way out. “Hi Daddy, bye Daddy.”

He laughed at her. “Bye kiddo.”

Simmons came in as she was going out the door. She stopped to give him a big smile, Grif couldn’t help noticing it.

“Wow, you two must have had some talk. She was really upset, now she’s happy.”

Simmons nodded proudly. “I’m learning to let go; just a little. She needs to be a normal kid without me suffocating her. It’ll take a while, but I’ll get there.”

Grif put his arm around him. “I’m proud of you.”

Simmons shook his head. “Now I’ve got to learn more about her dyslexia so I can tutor her on her reading. I don’t even know where to start.”

“Why don’t you hire a real tutor?”

“Do you have any idea how much that will cost? Anyway, this is something Mira and I can do together. I’ll have to go Monday morning and explain all this to the twins’ teacher.”

Grif squeezed his hand. “No, we’ll go talk to her together.” Simmons gave him a tired smile.

There was a scuffling at the front door, like someone was trying to knock. “Hello, hello, hello! Can somebody give me a hand?” Dr. Grey’s shrill, high pitch voice made Grif flinch.

“Oh dear god, why can’t that woman ever make a normal entrance?”

Simmons shot him a warning look. “Shut up and be nice. She’s our family doctor and our friend. We owe her a lot.” He rushed to get the door for her.

Grif groaned and rolled his eyes. “You suck up.”

Poor Dr. Grey was trying to balance a heavy casserole dish while trying to open the door. She smiled gratefully at Simmons as he took the dish for her. “Thank you, thank you. I didn’t realize how heavy that thing really was.”

Simmons frowned. “What is this?”

Grif came closer, he finally looked interested. “I smell cheese, the good kind too, not the cheap stuff this loser buys.” He forced the dish from Simmons’ hands.

Grey smiled at him. “You bet it is. This is my homemade cheesey tuna casserole. There’s four kinds of cheeses, all hand grated. I’m a food gourmet in my spare time, it’s only the best, or nothing. I made extra, thought your family would enjoy this.”

Grif rummaged through the silverware drawer to find a fork. “I call dibs, someone hasn’t even started on dinner yet. This will work for my dinner.”

Simmons clenched his teeth. “Put the casserole on the counter and grow up. That’s for all of us.” He turned to Dr. Grey. “Thank you Emily, you didn’t have to do that.”

“Yeah, but I wanted to. With not working all the crazy hospital hours, I don’t know what to do with myself, so I keep busy.”

“Well, with having the little girls around, they should keep you busy.”

“Oh believe me, they do. Maddie is a little angel, but Allie is a handful. She reminds me a lot of Mira. That’s kind of the real reason I stopped by. After our talk yesterday, I couldn’t stop thinking about her.”

“That’s perfect timing, she finally blew up and told me everything. She sounds like it’s dyslexia. She doesn’t understand anything about it, and neither do I. I’m going to try looking it up and try to tutor her with it.”

“No kidding, this is great! Well… not great that she’s dyslexic…but I know exactly how to help her. I went through the same thing when I was a kid, I learned some tricks to help read, they should help Mira too.”

Simmons felt hurt. “Well that’s really great Emily, but I kind of wanted to help her with it. This was something we could do together.”

Grif shook his head. “For crying out loud, she’s a professional, well sorta, you should let her help Mira so the poor kid doesn’t flunk out of kindergarten.”

Simmons gave in reluctantly. “Yeah, I guess so…” He still looked mad.

Grey felt bad. “I’ll tell you what, I’ll pick the twins up from school, and I’ll teach Mira some tricks to help her figure out the letters. When she gets home, you help her apply those tricks to her daily lessons. This way, we’ll both help her.”

Simmons slowly smiled. “I guess that can work.” He glanced at the kitchen counter just in time to catch Grif trying to steal a bite of the casserole. “Stop it and go tell the kids that dinner is ready.”

Mira came running in first. She squealed with joy when she saw Dr. Grey. “Doc Grey, I missed you!” She ran to give her a hug.

Grey laughed. “You saw me the other day.” She held Mira close. “How’s my favorist patient?”

“Terrible, you got any medicine that help me read good?”

“As a matter of fact, I do. Are you aware that I’m dyslexic myself? I taught myself some reading tricks to help, I can teach them to you.”

Mira looked mesmerized. “Wow, you too? So this means I can still be a doctor when I grow up?”

“Of course you can. You’re stubborn and determined enough to learn anything. You’ll be just fine.”

Simmons was so happy to see how relieved she looked. “And I’ll be helping you with your lessons every night to make sure you get caught up to your class.”

“You’re not gonna yell at me if I trouble are you?” She looked too suspicious.

He put his arm around her. “No way, I’m going to keep helping you until you can do it.”

She leaned up against him. “Cool, you’ll be the bestest teacher.”

Dr. Grey gave the two of them a small smile, she knew they could get along just fine. “Goodness, I better get home. I left Carolina in charge of the two little sprouts. For a great warrior, she’s no match for those kids. See’ya all later.”

Simmons started setting out the plates and silverware. Mira shocked him, she grabbed them from him. “Here Daddy, I can help you.” She usually hated helping with dinner.

He watched silently as she set the table all wrong, he wasn’t going to correct her. He ruffled her wild ginger curls. “Good job honey.”

She gave him a proud smile, at least she was happy. Simmons thought ahead to the challenge of working with his stubborn daughter. The next few weeks would be a challenge, but he was ready for it.

He would finally get some bonding, quality with Mira. That was all he cared about.


End file.
